Simple is Advanced

Inside every software-dependent organisation, a small number of people know how the systems actually work, and the official descriptions of those systems (strategy decks, board packs, portfolio labels) say something else. For twenty years that gap was bridged socially, through meetings, translation roles, and governance ritual. AI changes the economics of the arrangement: a machine can now read the strategy, the architecture, and the code together, and surface the contradictions at negligible cost.

Two books by Adrian McPhee make that argument from two altitudes. Illusions in the Boardroom is written for boards and executive teams, ending with what to demand before any AI investment. Illusions of Work is the operator’s account for CTOs, architects, and engineers: what the dysfunction looks like from inside, and the structural changes that make AI useful rather than merely fast. Both are free to read online, in full.